A Patient and the Importance of Being Patient

Greetings,

The entry which follows may be a bit muddled and a bit random in nature as I am writing it off the top of my head. I am looking at this word "patient" and seeing what I can get out of it at the moment. More to the point it is also looking at a person as a patient in a medical sense.

A medical patient is a person who is under medical care for the reason that there is some medical issue that needs to be solved. This issue can be acute or chronic, life-threatening to minor, it does not matter as soon as you come into contact with a health care professional you become "the patient". In some instances it will feel like you have also turned into a number, and this can happen more the more public the situation that you are in.

Hospitals, or more to the point emergency departments, are designed for sick people. In the case of emergency departments this is for people who have an immediate threat of some seriousness to their health, or they should be anyway. In some situations this is not the case and some of the patients really should be going and seeing their private doctor rather than gumming up the system, but the way that the economy goes it is really not surprising that some do it.

In emergency departments they work on a triage system. This means that the patients are evaluated as to the seriousness of their issue and then are seen in turn from most serious down to least serious. The system is not designed for "first in, first seen". What this means is, if your issue is relatively minor you are going to be waiting a long time. Obviously this is suited to the situation for an emergency department.

Waiting is an issue for some people and they will get very angry if they feel like they have been made to wait too long. Some people will even get quite aggressive about this and start causing issues for the staff. This is not the best way to be dealt with in a positive fashion. In most situations with regard to the public health system, and indeed the health system in general, there will be waiting periods. There is no point in getting angry as this will not get you any further along the queue, more to the point it will irritate those who are working there and will result in a negative opinion of you.

One of the keys to surviving the wait is having something to do. Bring a book if you are going for an appointment. Find something to occupy your mind that will take your focus off the wait. Believe it or not your patience as a patient is really appreciated by the staff. You will be remembered for your patience and your consideration and this will also lead to a more positive outcome for yourself and will assist others around you. The patient patient is a boon and those in the health care profession will thank you for it.

Cheers,

Henry.